Edward Burtynsky has traveled the world documenting humankind's incursions on the natural landscape--quarries, ship breaking fields, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams. His internationally-acclaimed large-format photographs are both beautiful and horrifying, arresting and undeniable, offering a visceral entry point into thinking about industrialization, sustainability, and the human condition.

On a recent trip to China, filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal accompanied Burtynsky as he documented endless factories, dam building projects, waste dumping grounds, and other "evidence and effects of that country's massive industrial revolution." The resultant film, Manufactured Landscapes, stands as a must-see for anyone interested in our impact on the world, and will have particular resonance to industrial designers moving forward into a future where the ramifications of mass production become severe to the point of crisis.

Ed and Jennifer chat with Allan Chochinov about the twists and turns of how the film came to be, what it's like to try to get permission to shoot some of the photographs and footage, the challenges (and limits) of editorial mission, and seeing the work on the big screen.

Rob Walker pens the weekly "Consumed" column for the New York Times Magazine, where he wonders out loud about branding and marketing issues facing consumers. While his columns can encompass everything from the current Crocs phenomenon to the counterculture Brand Underground movement to the concept of unconsumption, Walker cautions that...

Land of robot receptionists and more mobile services than you can shake iPhone at, Japan has so far offered few opportunities for foreign students wanting to study digital design at the center of the tech revolution. That's about to change. Keio University is launching a new Graduate School...

Why does new technology need to be smaller and have more features to be better? Why are so many gadgets so soulless that we are happy replacing them with new ones after only a year? Nicolas Roope thinks we both can and should design products that age beautifully so that...

Singapore with hummus! Sim City in real time! It's hard to escape the buzz about Dubai: The world's tallest building. The world's largest man-made islands. The world's only seven-star hotel. So, lured by a roster of big name designers (and the prospect of skiing the black diamond slope at...